June 24, 2013

The Genetics of Obesity, Part I

Choosing the Right Parents: the Best Way to Stay Lean?

In 1990, Dr. Claude Bouchard and colleagues published a simple but fascinating study demonstrating the importance of genetics in body fatness (1). They took advantage of one of the most useful tools in human genetics: identical twins. This is what happens when a single fertilized egg generates two embryos in utero and two genetically identical humans are born from the same womb. By comparing identical twins to other people who are not genetically identical (e.g., non-identical twins), we can quantify the impact of genes vs. environment on individual characteristics (2).